12 This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.
(Verse 10 and following) But you, son of man, show the house of Israel the temple: and let them be confounded by their iniquities, and let them measure the structure, and let them be ashamed of all that they have done. Show them the form of the house and its structure, its exits and entrances, and all its descriptions and all its laws. Show them the entire order and all its laws, and write them in their sight, that they may keep all its arrangements and its laws, and do them. This is the law of the house on the top of the mountain: All its boundaries around, it will be most holy. This, therefore, is the law of the house. 70: And you, son of man, show the house of Israel the house, and they will cease from their sins, and its vision and its arrangement: and they themselves will bear their punishment for all the things they have done. And describe the house and its preparation, and its exits and entrances, and its substance and all its ordinances, and all its statutes you will show them, and describe them before them: and they will observe all my judgments and all my commandments, and they will do them, and the description of the house on the top of the mountain, all its boundaries around are most holy. This is the law of the house. It is not a small task to demonstrate to those who see with their eyes or with their minds, so that they themselves seem to have seen with you. Therefore, Josephus writes that those who were sent by Jesus son of Nave to describe the land were geometers and had the art which now belongs to philosophers, the art of Geometry. Thus, for the house of Israel, those who see God with their mind, the house is shown, that is, the temple which Ezekiel saw situated on the mountain, and not only on a mountain, but as it is now said, on the summit of the mountain: which we should not think is the one that is described as being built by Solomon in the books of Kings and Chronicles. For that [temple] belongs to another order and size, and in each [temple] it has great diversity: and it [the second temple] is so much inferior to the temple that Ezekiel now shows, that not only its worshipers and priests, but even its builder, Solomon, sinned and offended God, although he later repented, writing in the Proverbs, where he says: Finally, I repented and considered to choose discipline (Prov. XXIV, 2). But this, which is shown by Ezekiel and through Ezekiel to the house of Israel, is as follows: that whoever contemplates it with the mind, ceases from his iniquities, not some, but all of them: or as it is contained in Hebrew, is confused and endures punishment for all that he has done. But he endures the punishment of his iniquities, who ceases to commit past sins: and it greatly benefits him who has sinned before, to see the house of God, and to know the reason for all its structure; so that he may cease to sin, and having a longing for it, may say to the Lord: O Lord, I have loved the beauty of your house: and the place of the habitation of your glory (Ps. 25:8). And again: One thing I have asked of the Lord, this I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life (Psalm 27:4), when I begin to live and be with Christ, who is the life of believers. It follows: His going out and coming in, understood as the house. But the going out of those who go out to those who are outside, and the coming in of those who penetrate the interior through the discipline of their masters. And every, he says, description or substance of it, as the Septuagint has translated, which pertains not so much to the nature of the house, but to the furnishings and riches. And you shall show them all the commandments, the entire order, and all the laws of the temple, to those who have carried the burden of their iniquities and have ceased or been confused about the things they had done before. But show it to them so that they may keep all the commandments. For it is of no use to know the description of the house and all its distributions, about which it is written: In my Father's house there are many mansions (John 14:2). And again: He established the boundaries of the nations according to the number of the children of Israel, even the angels of God (Deut. XXXII), unless you do what is commanded. But the house and law of all the commandments of God, and the city which is situated on the top of the mountain, that is to be believed, as it is written: A city cannot be hidden when it is situated on a mountain (Matth. I, 14). And: The rushing of the river makes the city of God rejoice (Ps. XLV, 4): which clearly refers to the Church, and is located on that mountain, which is at the top of all mountains, and from which the prince of Tyre was wounded: and all the borders and boundaries of this house are holy of holies. In that house, that is, in the tabernacle that was built by Moses, and in the temple that was constructed by Solomon, only the innermost parts, where the Cherubim, and the propitiatory, and the Ark of the Covenant, and the table of incense were located, were called the Holy of Holies. But in this house, which is shown by Ezekiel, and which is situated on the top of the mountain, all its boundaries are considered to be in the Holy of Holies. And what is inferred: This is the law of the house, either referring to the past, about which it has already been said, or to those things that will be said later.
[AD 420] Jerome on Ezekiel 43:10-12